


Urban Legends

by thingsilike_08



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Animal Death, Bloody Mary References, Boys Kissing, Child Murder, Child Star, Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Dead People, F/F, F/M, Fraternities & Sororities, Girls Kissing, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Making Out, Murder, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Pain, Psychological Torture, Serial Killers, Spooky, Stalking, Stomach Ache, Surgery, Urban Legends, sleepover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:13:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22154581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thingsilike_08/pseuds/thingsilike_08
Summary: The Losers find each of themselves in seven spooky stories based on urban legends.Tags will change as needed.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Benverly, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Mike Hanlon/Stanley Uris, Reddie - Relationship, stanlon
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	Urban Legends

* * *

"The Babysitter and The Man Upstairs"

Bill watches Georgie for the night when their parents go out. When his brother goes to bed, the phone starts ringing. And the caller is very curious about what Bill is up to in the house.

*

"Alright, boys, we’re leaving now," Sharon Denbrough stood in the living room doorway and looked in on her sons.

Bill and Georgie had barely budged for the past couple of hours. They were seated side by side on the sofa with a board game set up on the coffee table and about a dozen others around them. The two had been playing games that afternoon, pausing just long enough to snarf up a whole pizza between them and slurp down a couple soft drinks.

" _Boys_?" she repeated.

"Yeah, mom?" Bill asked distractedly, trying to figure out where he could block Georgie on the Parcheesi board track.

Sharon sighed and rolled her eyes. " _Thank you_ , boys. Dad and I are going to the new restaurant across town and probably to a movie after. Don’t wait up for us, okay?"

She gave them a smile, then looked up to her husband as he stepped up to her side. "We’re going to be late for the reservation because of this stupid bracelet. Can you get this for me?"

Zack Denbrough took the bracelet and Sharon extended her arm in front of him. Bill watched his father close the clasp easily. His father had his hair slicked back and was wearing the cologne that he only put on for special occasions. His mother had on a new dress and a necklace to match her bracelet.

"You guys look real nice," Bill said.

"Yeah, you guys look _great!_ " Georgie added quickly, sitting up on his knees to better see his mother.

"Thank you, boys," Sharon turned her focus back to the thin silver bracelet on her left wrist. "Now, remember that Bill is in charge. I want you to make sure that all of this is cleaned up by the time we get back. The pizza box, the dishes, all the games."

"Yeah, Mom, I know. I’ll clean up everything,"Bill agreed.

"Thank you. And make sure that your brother takes a bath before his bedtime, which is in _one hour_ — "

Georgie let out a sigh next to Bill and melted back against the couch, rolling his head towards his mother. "Come on, Mom, I don’t need a bath. Bill and I are going to stay up and watch movies. Right, Bill?"

Sharon stepped into the room and came up behind the sofa. She tilted Bill’s head back to kiss his forehead, then leaned over to kiss Georgie’s forehead. She paused over her youngest son then and looked into his eyes. "You better scrub up good tonight, because I’m going to check behind your ears for potatoes in the morning."

Georgie groaned dramatically. " _Mom!_ "

"Good night, boys," his mother gave him a quick pat.

Their father held out his arm for his wife to link her arm with. "Goodnight, sons," he said to them, and escorted his wife out to the garage.

Bill and Georgie listened to their parent’s footsteps as they left. They could hear the garage door was humming loudly as it opened and closed, signaling that the parents were gone. Bill leaned forward to pick up his drinking glass off the coffee table. When he sat back to take a drink, Georgie was right next to him, right in his face. "So what are we doing now, Bill?"

"What do you mean _what are we doing now_? Mom said you needed to take a bath and then go to bed," was Bill’s reply.

Of course, his brother protested. "No way! Come on, Bill, I don’t smell. And I’m not even _tired_..."

Georgie yawned. He tried to cover it by turning his head away, but Bill knew. He scrunched his face in disgust, although he was teasing. "You smell like an asshole."

"No, I don’t. You do. _You_ do, you smell like a dirty asshole," was Georgie’s reply.

"I do _not_. It’s all you. You smell like a shitty asshole."

"Well, you smell like a shitty _brown_ asshole — "

Bill let out an impatient sigh. "Come on, Georgie. Go upstairs and take a bath. I have to go clean up everything and then I can come up to tuck you in when you’re finished with your bath."

"No one tucks me in anymore, Bill. I’m nine," Georgie replied dryly, as if Bill was annoying him. But he did as told and got off the couch, shuffling towards the stairs.

"Hey!" Bill called after him as Georgie climbed up the steps. "Put on clean clothes! Mom will have a bird if you’re wearing the same thing tomorrow morning!"

" _I know that, dumbass!_ " Georgie yelled back at Bill, who was definitely bothering the nine year old by now.

Upstairs the doors were hidden from view, but Bill could still hear the one to their bathroom slam shut. He paused to listen for the low hum of water in the pipes that came rushing through a moment later. Bill then began cleaning up, putting the games away in the cabinet and the plates in the dishwasher and the empty pizza box in the garbage.

When he finished, Bill took a peek into the back of the refrigerator. There was a cardboard box of tall brown bottles, all chilled nice and cold. He took out one and twisted the top, put the opening to his lips, and took a few long gulps of beer. Bill closed his eyes and smiled at the taste —

There was suddenly a loud ringing from the phone hanging on the wall. Bill nearly dropped his bottle in surprise, but caught it quickly and only a little foam came back up the neck. The phone rang again and Bill wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

He moved towards the phone as it rang a third time, and brought the receiver to his ear. "Hello?"

No one said anything.

Bill waited a few moments before saying anything again. "Hello? Denbrough residence."

There was a noise on the other end that sounded like the person was slurping their tongue around in their mouth before speaking. The voice was high and almost squeaked at certain syllables, sounding balloon like.

"Have you checked the boy?"

 _The boy?_ Bill scrunched his face in confusion. There was only one boy, who was upstairs bathing and he knew that already. "What?" he asked.

The caller hung up and there was the loud hum of the dial tone. Bill looked down at the phone, then hung it back up on the cradle. _That was weird,_ he thought and took another sip of his beer.

Bill took his drink into the living room and flopped down on the sofa where he and Georgie had been sitting earlier. He turned on the TV and began to search through the channel guide, trying to figure out what to watch. But then he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket and pulled it out to read the text message.

 **BEVERLY:** << _Audra has been asking about where you are this weekend._ >>

Oh, that made Bill really wish he had stayed at his college campus that weekend! Audra is a girl from his writing class with long red hair and a beautiful face who sat two rows ahead of him, and she was cool and smart and sexy. She lived in the same dorm as Beverly, so Bill always made extra excuses so he could see Audra between classes. He had tried to ask her out before, but when he opened his mouth, all of a sudden his stutter began and Bill couldn't make the words.

Of course she would ask about Bill on the weekend he was away.

"Bill!"

He jumped at the loud call of his name, nearly startled out of his skin at his brother’s voice. "Shit!" Bill gasped, his hand coming up to cover his chest.

There was giggling from behind Bill and he turned his head to look back, where Georgie was standing at the base of the stairs. He was freshly washed with his hair combed and dressed in clean pajamas, a dark green set with buttons down the front and trim to match.

"Georgie, you scared me the _shit_ out of me!" Bill scolded him.

"Good!" his little brother grinned.

Bill shifted to try and block his brother’s view of the beer bottle on the coffee table. "Are you ready for bed?" he asked; Georgie nodded. "Did you brush your teeth?"

"Yeah, I did. What are you doing?" Georgie asked. He shifted his weight to one foot and stuck his hands on his hips. "Are you getting drunk? Mom’s going to be mad if you’re drunk."

Bill gestured towards the TV, the channel guide rolling by easily on the screen. "I’m not getting drunk. I’m just trying to find something to watch until Mom and Dad get back."

Georgie groaned, sounding bored. "Okay. Goodnight, Bill."

He turned away and Bill called after him again. "Goodnight, Georgie. I’ll see you in the morning."

The sound of his brother’s bedroom door creaking closed sounded so far away. It was quiet and still in the house now, the only light source was the kitchen and the two lamps in the living room. Bill ended up putting in a movie, some long western film of his dad’s, and settled back against the cushions as he nursed his beer.

But it wasn’t too much longer before the phone on the little end table began to ring. Bill reached over and brought the receiver to his ear.

"Hello?" he said.

There was that strange wet sound again, like a tongue smacking inside a mouth, and then the high squeaky voice from earlier. "Have you checked the boy?"

The voice belonged to man, Bill could tell that. It didn’t sound familiar. Maybe it was his parents checking in on them, maybe the phone was warped and the voices sounded not so good. "Dad, is that you?" he asked, and there was a loud dial tone in reply.

This had to be some kind of a prank. He didn’t know what kind of prank it was, but it was stupid. Just some dumb scheme that Richie had cooked up, thinking he was hilarious, and had told Eddie _don’t tell Bill it will be so funny we’ll laugh about it when he gets back_ —

Speaking of his friends, Bill hadn’t responded to Beverly’s message. He quickly typed out a reply.

 **BILL:** << _You should give her my number the next time you see her. >>_

He smiled to himself, thinking that was pretty clever. But he didn’t think that Beverly would reply back soon anyway so Bill just continued to watch his movie.

About halfway through the movie, the phone started ringing again. Bill sighed to himself and picked up the receiver. This had to be Richie. No one else would call him this many times and be gross just for a joke.

"Hello?" Bill said into the phone and he waited for an answer, but all he could hear was their tongue working around in their mouth. " _Hello?_ "

The wet sound continued for a few more moments before the high voice spoke again. "Have you checked the boy?"

Bill rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Richie, is this you? Come on, man, this isn’t even funny. You use to come up with way better stuff in middle school — "

The dial tone hummed in his ear.

Bill hung up the phone and a strange feeling began to come over him. He had thought it was Richie earlier but maybe it wasn’t. Because if it had been, his friend would have started giggling and laughing like he always did, and he would tease Bill about playing a joke on him.

_— I got you were you scared Big Bill I could tell hahaha did you hear him Eds I got him —_

Now that Bill thought it wasn’t Richie, he wondered how many more times this person would call. If they kept calling, the loud ringing might wake up Georgie and Bill would be in trouble with their parents. So if they called again, Bill would have to lay it down on this caller.

So Bill waited, and nothing happened.

The house stayed quiet, no cars drove by, no Georgie trying to sneak out of his room and come downstairs. Bill’s parents hadn’t come home, so they must have gone to the movie as suggested. Bill had finished his beer and got up to throw the bottle away in the kitchen.

He twisted open the top of a new one and took another sip. When Bill came back by the stairs, he looked up towards the second floor hallway. Maybe...maybe he should check on his brother. 

He was halfway up the steps when the phone began to ring downstairs.

Bill was scared again and he gasped in surprise, _again._ He actually jumped, nearly dropping his drink. And that would be a mess, watching it bubble down the dark hardwood steps. He moved back down to the living room and picked up the phone again, answering with a quiet voice.

"Hello?"

This time was very different. He heard a long, deep, pitiful sigh from the caller and their voice sounded oh so worried. " _Why_ haven’t you checked the boy?"

That sent a chill right up Bill’s spine and his eyes nearly jumped out of his head as they widened in shock. This person knew he hadn’t gone to check on Georgie yet. This person was _watching him_.

Bill slowly turned to look towards the window, his hand still squeezing the phone so hard it was probably about to break. It was pitch black through the glass, so he couldn’t see outside. But he could feel the heaviness of this person’s eyes on him, staring at him from somewhere in the dark.

He stepped across the living room to the front door and checked the locks, one on the door knob and the deadbolt. When Bill sat down on the sofa again, he turned down the TV a few notches and pulled the phone over the arm of the sofa onto his lap. He picked up the receiver again and pressed the buttons to dial the police station.

"Derry Police Department, Officer Redemacher speaking," the voice said on the other end of the phone.

"Hi, this is Bill Denbrough. I’m at my parent’s right now and this man keeps calling the house. He says the same thing every time and it’s...it’s weird," Bill explained.

Redemacher repeated his last name as if trying to remember. " _Denbrough, Denbrough_...oh, yeah, Zach’s kid, with a stutter? Well, how are you, kid? Some weird man calling you? Listen, it’s probably that idiot Tozier kid you use to hang out with. You don’t have anything to worry about."

Bill shook his head, forgetting that he couldn’t be seen by the officer. "Richie use to pull better stuff than this when we were kids. This is...it just feels weird. I don’t want him to wake up my brother with all these phone calls."

"Is this guy threatening you or using any disgusting language?"

"No, he isn’t. He doesn’t really say anything. He just keeps calling and asking if I’ve checked on my brother."

He heard the officer sigh on the other end of the line, sounding as if Bill was bothering him. Bill knew he wasn’t being taken seriously. "I don’t think there is too much that we can do then. You can probably just take the phone off the hook, you know, if this is really bothering you."

"Listen, I don’t know what to do. My parents are out and it’s just me and my little brother here tonight," Bill explained. "If they come home and he’s still awake because this creep keeps waking him up, then it will be _me_ that needs a babysitter because they won’t let me go back to college after the weekend. Can’t you help me?"

Redemacher sighed again. "Alright, fine. I can contact the phone company and have them pay attention to your phone line. When this guy calls you again, try and keep him on for a minute or so. That should be long enough for his number to be traced so we can find him. I’ll call you back when we know, okay? Will that be enough for you?"

"Yeah, that’s fine. Thanks," Bill agreed.

At least they were going to do something.

"What’s your parent’s address again? And the phone company will need your number too," Redemacher asked.

Bill gave all the information and hung up the phone.

He waited, and waited and waited — Bill felt like he had been waiting for ages. He wondered if this guy was done trying to scare him, had known that Bill was scared and moved on. But when the phone finally rang again, just short of twenty minutes later, Bill _knew_ it was him. And as he picked up the phone, Bill then realized that he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to keep this guy on the line.

Bill held the phone between his ear and shoulder and he scooted up to the edge of the couch. "Hello," he greeted the caller, trying to speak in a calm voice.

There was a little giggle on the other end of the line and Bill felt a tickle on the back of his neck. "It’s me," the familiar voice said.

Bill swallowed. "I know it’s you. You’re the one who’s been calling me all night."

"That’s right."

They were both quiet for a few moments, as Bill tried to think of what to say. This wasn’t a _how’s the weather_ kind of conversation.

_Think of something, think of something! There isn’t much time —_

Bill’s right hand began to pick at the thread in the trim of the sofa cushion. "Who are you?" he finally asked.

"Can’t tell you that."

Bill cleared his throat and continued. "But my parents will be home soon. And I’m going to leave here tomorrow and I’ll never hear from you again."

He heard a whimpering sound, like the caller crying at the news. "I know. And I’ll miss you so much," they told Bill.

They continued to make boo-hooing sounds and mutterings about missing Bill and being so lonely. His mind was moving quick to come up with something to say.

"Hey, uh, can you see me right now?"

The crying slowed into long sobbing noises, then the line went quiet again.

Bill felt his breath catch and he thought that the line was disconnected. "Hello? Are you still there?"

"Yes, I am," the caller suddenly squeaked at him.

"Can you see me right now?"

The caller giggled at Bill. "Oh, yes, I can _._ "

Bill’s eyes panned the room and searched into the dark of the window. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but the caller was there. They could see Bill. They knew what he was doing.

"Should I turn on more lights?"

"Oh no! No, this is just right."

"Can you tell me what you want?" Bill tried again.

"I want...your blood... _all over me,_ " the voice told him, sounding as if they were shuddering with ecstasy at the idea of being drenched in Bill’s blood.

 _My blood?_ Bill’s hand quickly moved to cover his mouth, hiding his disgust.

There was more giggling on the other end of the line and it made Bill’s stomach twist.

"You sick fuck! You better stop calling here because my parents will be here any minute. Hey, they might even get here before _the_ _police_ ," Bill told the caller, his voice warning.

The tone changed very quickly then between him and the caller. Bill could feel the tension break. And when the caller spoke, their voice had changed to something low and deep and growling. "You called the police?"

Bill nodded. "Yeah. _I did_. But first — "

The phone line disconnected then and Bill swore under his breath. With a groan, he hung up the phone again and lay back against the sofa. He hoped that the call could be traced and that the police would call him back any moment now.

"Please be enough, please be enough," he muttered to himself, repeating the phrase over and over, eyes closed tight and his leg shaking.

The phone began to ring again.

The sound screamed loud in Bill’s ears and it exploded through the living room. And Bill was tired of it. He was tired of this person calling, watching, harassing, threatening, just knowing their phone number and knowing that he was there with Georgie, and they were alone and vulnerable. He couldn’t take the sound anymore. So Bill flung himself back over the arm of the couch and snatched the receiver up so hard that the cradle almost flew off the table.

" _Just leave us alone, okay?_ " he demanded.

But instead of that wet tongue licking and that weak sigh and begging tone, there was the voice of the police officer from before. " _Bill? Bill, is that you?_ "

"Yes, it’s me. What’s going on?"

" _Bill, we’ve traced the call. It’s coming from the same address — the guy is inside the house. Now there’s a squad car on their way, but you have to get out of the house. You have to get out right now!_ "

All that Bill could focus on were the words _inside the house_ , words that sent the tiniest chills moving in easy little trickles all over his body. One by one they rippled down his limbs, the back of his neck, his spine, and he felt words finally form at his lips.

"My...my G-G-G...Georgie, my Georgie — " he managed to sputter out.

" _Bill, the squad car will be there in a couple of minutes. Just get out of the house!_ "

Slowly Bill set the phone back on the cradle. There were four phones in the house — the one at his side, one in the kitchen, his parent’s bedroom, his bedroom. Unless there was one in —

Oh, shit. There was now a phone in Georgie’s room. But that wasn’t his little nine year old brother on the phone all night.

He slowly turned around, eyes wide as he looked to the dark staircase. No movement, no sound. He wanted to scream for his brother, bolt up the stairs and scoop him out of bed and drag him outside. But Bill’s legs were frozen, fear keeping him still. He could barely breathe.

" _Georgie,_ " he whimpered.

Somehow his legs began moving him towards the front door, taking slow easy steps. If someone really was here, Bill couldn’t let them know he was getting out. His feet were light and his breathing still, and stood at the front door. He looked back towards the living room, half expecting someone to jump at him and suck him back into the darkness of the house.

Nothing.

Bill looked forward at the two locks and began to slowly, carefully, easily open one of the locks. It barely made a sound when it turned. His heart was racing and there was this high screaming sound in his head.

But there was a creaking sound from upstairs that cut through the noise and Bill recognized it as the floorboards upstairs. It made all the little hairs on Bill’s body stand on end and he looked back up the steps, where he could see the bright yellow light from Georgie’s bedroom cast down the hallway. A tall thin silhouette stepped into the light, a shape nothing like his little brother, and Bill gasped in shock. Oh fuck, they were in Georgie’s room!

Bill quickly turned back to the door and began to twist and pull on the doorknob. Nothing budged and he swore to himself. "Fuck! Come on, you fucking _door!_ "

He pulled again and noticed the deadbolt was still in place. Bill cursed himself again and twisted that lock, now free of barriers to get him out. He flung the door open and went to leap out, the tension of fear and worry and _oh god Georgie’s dead he’s up there he’s dead I know it_ had built him up into a full on panic.

And he ran straight into a sturdy body of a police officer and Bill began to scream, his hands gripping to the man’s arms as his legs went out beneath him. As Bill sank down to the walkway, still screaming for his brother, he could see the bright red and blue lights of patrol cars flashing around his neighborhood. Several officers were rushing into the house, guns in hand, and Bill could see his parents moving quickly over the grass towards him. 

_Bill and I are going to stay up and watch movies,_ Bill could hear Georgie’s words echoing in his head and he closed his eyes, just as that wet slurping sound filled his ears.

*


End file.
